The Other Side of the War
by the 13th olympian
Summary: A story about life on the Titan's side of the war.
1. Chapter 1

Hey there. My name is Nick and I am the son of Nyx. I am seventeen years old and so is my best friend is Pello son of Proteus. We are good people. I like to make things out of steel and I am trying to fix up a '70 Chevelle in my spare time. We made a mistake about a year ago when we joined the Titans my swearing loyalty to Kronos. I am going to tell you a story of what it was like on the other side of the war.

The only reason I joined was that my mom, Nyx, encouraged it. So did Pello's dad. My mom told me that I would be a great warrior, so far so good. The monsters are hard to get used to. That is if you ever get used to them. That was the worst part, but if you were lucky and picked the ground troops, like me, then you didn't have to deal with all of the monsters like on the Princess Andromeda.

We had just gotten done with sparring and now we were sitting with our backs against a tree just shooting the breeze.

Then, Pello asked me, "Do you ever feel like a traitor? About leaving camp and all?"

I answered, "Yes, but when I think about how I was never accepted there and crammed into that stupid cabin with all of the other nobodies, I realize that I'm doing the right thing. I just wish that the others could see what we are all about, you know?

"Well I just feel bad about leaving. That place was once my home," he told me.

"What is wrong with this place?" that question could not have had any poorer timing because just then a hellhound bounded by. "Ok I see your point, but you know that you're safe from those things out there. Besides this is only temporary, because we move on to New York soon. We may not know when, but soon."

Then a bell rang and our Captain yelled "Lights out!"

Our Captain's name is George and he is from Georgia so we secretly make fun of him behind his back. But if he ever caught us, we would be fed to his dragon named Ramsey. He said that he raised him from an egg but people told me that it was the other way around. George is not very well liked, but he is a good leader.

I picked up my sword and it changed into a black lanyard. I headed into my separate tent and called it a night.


	2. Chapter 2

I woke up the following morning to a _dracaenae_ slithering by my tent. She brought me breakfast, which I thought was really nice of them because they kept mostly to themselves.

That's what I thought until I realized that it was her leftovers that she left on her plate. She must have eaten something nasty by the looks of the bones scattered on the plate. I went after her but she mysteriously disappeared. I promised that at the next sparring practice we had, I would pick one of her sisters to punish.

I dragged myself back to my tent, made my bed, and kicked the plate into the garbage can. "Ahh," I sighed, "Another day at base camp."

I went to Pello's tent; he was still asleep. _Perfect_. I have been waiting for a while to begin to use my powers. I put my hands over Pello's head and concentrated. He _was_ dreaming of doing drills in front of Captain George, but now he would be doing it in his underpants.

George was miffed, "Private! Would you like to tell me why you aren't wearing any pants!"

"Sir, I didn't think that I needed today, sir," Pello answered.

"Well now we are going to have a hike through those bushes!" he pointed at some pretty nasty thorn bushes, mixed with a poison ivy bush here and there.

Pello whimpered and then took off toward the bushes and just before he got there, he woke up. I was rolling on the ground laughing, and Pello said, "Not cool man," he shook off the head rush from getting up too quickly, "Is that all you can do?"

"Nah, but that is the first time that I tried that," I managed to answer after laughing, "I think that I can do some other things, but I don't exercise them."

"Dude you could be pretty powerful," he told me.

"Well I'm more powerful with a full stomach. Lets go get some breakfast," I prodded. As we walked over to the cooking tent, I told him about the _dracaenae_. He got a kick out of it.

I grabbed a plate of scrambled eggs and to strips of bacon, and brought it over to my friend's table. "Hey guys. Ask Pello how his dream was."

I grinned as Pello punched me in the arm, but he was a good sport and told them about it. The gang got a good laugh and we went on with our morning breakfast. The eggs were excellent and the bacon was grade-A dog food.

After breakfast, I got ready for today's activities. Everyone lined up and Captain George came shortly after. He walked down the rows; I risked a look around and saw that today's group was constructed only of demigods. "News from Kronos!" George shouted so everyone could hear, "He told me himself that our demigod soldiers needed to demonstrate their powers! And I agree with him, because your powers could make or break us!"

He broke us down into groups of three. I was with Pello and Rose, a daughter of Hecate. Since Rose could already use her powers, she showed Pello and I how to use ours as well. "You have to use your instincts. Imagine yourself in a dangerous situation and the only way out is to use your power," Rose instructed us.

Pello got the hang of it immediately. His form turned into a giant lizard. He flicked his tongue at me and said, "How do I look?"

I was too stunned to answer but Rose said, "You look like a Komodo Dragon."

I tried to focus as Pello turned into several different animals. It was hard because Pello turned into a Mallard and started talking like Daffy Duck.

Rose interveened, "You have to stay focused!" I was still laughing until Rose's hand caught on fire and made a blue flame, "Maybe this will get you motivated."

She raised her hand at me and I was too confused to think of something to do. My instincts kicked in. I raised my hand to intercept, my gut wrenched. My mind went blank; fire was coming at me, but it never got to me. I managed to construct a wall made of shadows just in time to save me from the scorching heat. I imagined the wall reforming into more of a cloud, surrounding us all. The shadows responded.

Everyone was confused, even I didn't know much of what was going on. I could see everyone clearly; they were bumping into each other like they couldn't see. I concentrated on stopping the cloud and it did so.

"Nice work," Rose complimented, "A little over the top but not bad."

Pello walked over now back to normal. "I thought that you two were going to kill each other there for a second."

I was looking at my hand, shocked that it did so much more than alter dreams. The drill went on and on as we tried to strengthen our power. When the drill came to a close, I was exhausted and the day was only beginning.

Sparring didn't start until the end of the day. So I bided my time, but still participated fully in the other drills. My theory was that there was no point in going to war if you cant go all out in training.

Lunch came and went and so did dinner. I had to finish a three-mile hike, and like the marathon runner that I was, I slumped toward the back of the pack. I should have been wearing a sign on my back that said, "If you are reading this, then you are in last place."

I was pumped for sparring, but the day's activities were brutal. I used almost all of my energy on the very first drill. I walked over to the _dracaenae_ group and asked, "Which one of you left their leftovers in my tent?"

No answer, so I drew my sword and repeated the question. One, who seemed much stronger that the others, finally stepped forward and said, "Sorry, I thought that that tent was full of garbage anyways."

The group laughed, but I replied by saying, "Oh you girls got yourselves a challenge."

The _dracaenae_ that confronted me grabbed a tower shield and a sword. George blew his whistle, signaling that the drill had begun. Everyone else went into groups of two; I remained focused as the snake woman advanced. If I hadn't been so tired, I would have sidestepped the shield bash, but I was nailed in the head and stumbled just out of her sword strike.

This _dracaenae_ was different from her sisters; she was stronger than most of them and much more skilled. I shook off my daze and struck her shield and avoided her sword. I somehow managed to kick below her shield and landed my first blow; making contact with her knee.

She let out a howl of pain and I used that moment to grab her shield and wrench it out of her clutches. She sneered at me and continued her onslaught. She was better with just her sword than with a shield because her strokes were so fluid, that I could only play defense. That is, until she made a mistake. She swung too high once and I got below the strike and kicked her again, but this time I took out her ankles. Her momentum was against her as well because she spun out of control toward the ground. I grabbed her sword out of her hand and put mine against her throat.

George blew his whistle again. Which meant that we had to switch partners. I put her sword in the ground and put my hand out to help her up. She didn't respond for a moment, but she still took it nonetheless.

We didn't say a word as we turned directions and looked for different partners, but I could tell that we had mutual respect for each other. Later, I found Pello and we had our daily sparring contest. By this time, we were so used to each other's fighting strategy that neither one of us could gain an advantage, but today, I felt that I could win because I learned something from my _dracaenae_ friend.

I tried what I learned, by making my strokes more fluid. A surprised looked covered my friend's face. He wasn't able to use his own moves. Slowly but steadily, I broke down his defense. I picked up the tempo of my swings and in a quick swipe I knocked his sword out of his hands.

Pello looked amazed, "That was awesome! How'd you do that?"

I shrugged and said, "It was just something that I picked up."

We went on for a few more rounds before Captain George blew his whistle. "Break!" he yelled and we went off to relax as the sun went down.

I snuck my way over to the supply tents. I looked in the corner where I always put it back, and there it was. A tool belt.

I put it on and looked around for car parts. The Chevelle only needed a few more things and it would be in working condition. I found some sparkplugs, a new oil filter, a couple quarts of oil, and a gallon of gas. After that, I headed to the place where I first found the vehicle. It was a mile from the camp. Although I had an exhausting day, I felt full of energy. It happens every time the sun goes down.

I fought my way through the thick brush before I found it. Even though I had seen it so many times before, the sight always managed to amaze me. I was lucky to have scavenged so many parts for it. When I first found it, it was an old, faded, broken-down pile of scrape waiting to rust, with mice in the seats and all of the tires missing. Now it was a midnight blue beauty with all of its tires and even a spare in the trunk and I had managed to rid it of the mice infestation that had plagued it for so many years.

I opened the driver's door and popped open the hood. I was about to open it the rest of the way until I saw a huge mouse sitting on the passenger's seat. I slowly reached for it and it just turned its eyes toward me and stared blankly. "Easy there. If you cooperate with me, then there wont be any harm. Ok?" I said.

The mouse still stared at me. I reached down and attempted to pick it up, but before I could, it shot out, went between my feet, and out the door. I turned and found it on its hind legs with its front legs in the air. "All right, I warned you and now you're going to get it."

I started toward it, "Cant we all just get along?" the mouse said.

I stopped in my tracks, and then I realized what was going on. I burst out laughing, "Pello! You little… Rat."

Pello turned back to normal, laughing. When we finally stopped laughing, I wiped the tears from my eyes and said, "Well we should get this vehicle running, what do you think?"

"Yup, lets get started."

I grabbed a ratchet and went to work on the oil plug, while Pello worked on replacing the sparkplugs. Once I got it removed, nothing came out, so I put it back on. I went inside the car to turn the wheel, and then I went over to change the oil filter. I got the old one removed and took the new one out of the box, poured oil into it and put it on. Pello was finished with the sparkplugs and was filling the tank with gasoline. I added the oil, shut the hood, and hopped in the driver's seat. Pello slid into the passenger's seat.

I grabbed the keys from the dashboard and slid them into the ignition. This was the moment of truth, the event that I had been waiting so long for. I turn the key and listened to the engine roar to life. "YES!" I shouted.

"Test drive!" Pello screamed.

I put the car into drive and we headed out. "Aren't you going to turn on the headlights?" Pello asked.

"I don't need them. I can see just fine," I answered.

Pello shrugged and turned on the radio. We rode down the gravel road that would take us back to the camp. I gunned it and the car flew by the countryside, like a rocket sled on rails. The tents came up too fast; I wanted to do this all night, but I parked it in the lot where the soldiers parked their personal vehicles. I got out with the keys in my pocket. I walked back to my tent but I ended up sprinting because just then George yelled, "Lights out!"

When I made it to my tent I saw Captain George waiting for me. I stopped dead in my tracks and saluted, "Sir!"

"At ease, Nick. I just got a package from your mom, Nyx. She wanted me to deliver it personally."

This day just kept getting better. I took the package and saluted as George left. I ran to my bed and opened the package. It was a cape; I unfolded it and a note slipped out. I picked it up, and it read "Dear son, I hope you are doing well. I am so proud of you. I want you to have this cape; it is an exact replica of mine but it has different abilities than mine. I made it myself out of celestial bronze and Stygian iron. It is as strong as the Nemean lion's pelt and yet it feels as if it is made of cotton. You will find out what else it can do. Wear it proudly, my son. Sincerely Nyx."

I looked at the cape. It weighed next to nothing. The color was lighter with a mix of orange and yellow at the top where it went around the shoulders and it got darker and closer to black toward the bottom. It also had white-blue dots in the fabric as well. The cape looked like the night sky. I looked at the bottom and smiled, "Its always darkest before the dawn," I said.

I looked back at the note and on the flipside it said the exact same that I just said. "Wow. Thanks mom."

I relaxed in my bed and quickly fell asleep.


End file.
